Celebrating all things bright, beautiful, sweet and fluffy

Grab bootstraps. Pull up.

I don’t know about you, but getting to the end of a month always makes me want to pause and take stock of where I’m at. I feel it’s time for some big changes and challenges in my life. So far this year has been busy and fairly pleasant, but the progress I’m making on certain goals is decidedly underwhelming.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not the kind of person to have a complex about my weight. I’m not obese or anything, just not as fit and trim as I’d like to be. Nor is my diet as healthy and well thought out as it ought to be. It’s something I want to change. And instead of continuing to say I want to change, this time I actually want to do what it takes. Time to grab the proverbial bootstraps, and yank!

“I think I’ll start tomorrow,” she says, finishing off one of the last currant whorls…

Seriously though. Tomorrow a new month begins. Don’t-mess-with-me March. I plan to take action for my health. Here’s how:

1. Go vegetarian for a month. Or in my case, pescatarian. No beef, no lamb, no pork, no chicken. I’ll still eat eggs, dairy and fish, though. March is a good month to tackle this goal (#36). I don’t foresee that it will be too tough to accomplish, since I don’t eat much red meat anyway. But cutting out bacon and chicken will be a tad depressing. On the upside: maybe in achieving this goal I can learn to cook two more new veggies and cross off Goal #46 at the same time 🙂 Ninja won’t want to join me on this, though, so I’ll continue to cook meat for him.

2. No baking. Sheesh. A whole month without sweet creativity in the kitchen? A bleak prospect indeed! One exception to this will be the Minnie Mouse cupcakes I’ve been asked to bake for a kiddies’ birthday party around the middle of March. I’ll just try not to sample too many of these myself then…

3. Keep a food diary. Hey, wait! Don’t run away! I promise not to spam your inbox with my daily diet 😛 This will be for my eyes only, to keep me in check.

4. No unhealthy takeaways. On the rare occasions that I do need to eat out, I’ll order the healthiest meals I can find. Nothing deep fried, cheesy, meaty or sweet. That includes drinks such as the KFC Very Berry Krusher, which has single-handedly krushed my diet this summer. *pines away*

5. Stick to my exercise routine. I’m doing a variety of exercises (I’m no gym bunny, so I do it all at home), including weights, cardio, jogging and stretching exercises. I’ll be aiming to stick to it for at least 30 min per day, 3 days per week, for 3 weeks in March, as Goal #4 stipulates.

6. Reduce salt, sugar and refined/processed foods. I’m not ready yet to go on a total health-freak whole-foods organic-only diet. There will still be times when I need to use refined flour or salt or other modern evils. But I’ll limit these as best I can.

Overall, I just want to take a step in the right direction, not make an idol of my healthy diet. As Jesus said, what goes into a person’s mouth doesn’t matter as much as what comes out of it, from their hearts (Matt 15:10–20). So my diet changes will be sensible rather than sensational. I don’t want it to take over my life. Still, I’ve got a good feeling about this. I look forward to seeing some positive changes over the next few weeks 🙂

About Zest

I'm just a sinner who's been saved by the gospel of grace as revealed in Scripture, through faith in Jesus Christ, to the glory of God. I love life and all things bright, beautiful, sweet and fluffy! :)